The alternating seasons of winter and spring are the most difficult seasons for survival on the grasslands.

The fat stored last autumn was almost consumed by this time, and there was no surplus food in the tribe.

If you kill a wizened buffalo or a wild horse...... The people who live on this grassland will not do so unless they are forced to do so.

"Grandma, Ye'er wants to eat meat. ”

The emaciated child, clinging to his mother's side, said with wide eyes and looking up at his mother.

"The meat is all taken by your Abba, they go to fight the bad guys, and we eat weed roots, okay?"

His mother, who was also thin and had a sun-tanned face, said.

The child pouted, did not say yes or bad, and looked extremely aggrieved.

"Mother, if you can't kill a sheep for your brother, he's still growing his body, if it's ......"

Not far from the mother and son, Zhuoma, a girl digging roots, turned her head, looked at Ye'er and said, but before she finished speaking, her mother firmly objected.

"No, I've already killed a lot of sheep this year, if I kill it again, next year will not be enough, the year after next year will be even more difficult, bear with it, just wait for spring to come." ”

After Zhuoma's mother finished speaking, she saw that her son was still looking at her pitifully.

"Ye'er is good, when my father comes back from the victory, I will be able to ......"

Dolma and Mother were about to say something, when suddenly a rider in the distance ran diagonally towards the city wall not far behind her.

"Go back to the city, go back to the city quickly, there may be news of your father. ”

A family of three ran towards the Wild Bull City behind them, a little flustered in their hearts.

The horse just now ran in a hurry, with blood stains on his body, and he didn't hold the Great Victory Flag, so the news that he might have brought back was not good.

If her man dies in battle, and her two children are young, she really doesn't know how to live in the future.

Hurried to the foot of the Wild Bull City, and the cry from the city could be heard from a distance.

This made Zhuoma and Auntie more and more uneasy.

"What's going on, what's wrong?"

When she entered the city, Dolma's mother immediately pulled a crying woman and asked.

"The duke's army was defeated, many people died, so many people died. ”

The woman hugged her and wept bitterly.

Her eyes immediately filled with tears, but they didn't fall, she just held back her fear and asked, "How are we steppe wolf tribes?"

"No...... I don't know. ”

The woman choked up and answered, but she didn't know anything.

Mother Dolma pushed the man away and looked forward to see if anyone knew the details.

Close to the Duke's Palace, there are many people here, all waiting for news, but there is no news coming out of it for a long time.

She found the place where the women of the steppe wolf tribe gathered, and someone told her: "The marquise has gone to ask, but she has not come out yet, it is estimated that there will be news in a while, and wait, maybe the news is not so bad." ”

She nodded, hugged her Ye'er and Dolma, and ducked in the corner.

Ye'er cried and slept in her arms, and her daughter sat next to her, her eyes full of worry, but she didn't cry.

After all, her daughter is older, and she knows that distress is useless, which makes her feel a lot more at ease.

But his mind is still chaotic, thinking wildly that if the child's father dies, he doesn't know who will take him away.

If you don't obey, your daughter will be okay and she will be able to marry after all, but your son may become a slave because she can't support herself.

Thinking of Ye'er becoming a slave, her tears couldn't stop falling, and she couldn't wipe them anymore.

I cried for a while, the sun had set, a bonfire was lit on the nearby street, and there was a shadow of totem fire in the distance, but it was not from my own tribe, so I couldn't go.

She hugged her children tighter, fearing that they would freeze, and she looked straight at the City Lord's Mansion, waiting for the Marquise to come out.

I don't know how long I waited, anyway, half of her body was numb, and the marquise in sackcloth finally walked out.

The Marquise looked around, then found the direction in which their steppe wolf tribe had gathered, and walked briskly.

The women embraced her, but she did not move, for though her daughter was awake, her younger son was still asleep.

"Hurry up and find out the news, your father is a wolf guard, just listen to the wolf guard's casualties. ”

She hurriedly commanded.

The daughter nodded, and then squeezed into the crowd excitedly to listen for the news.

For a while, the gathered people did not disperse, but the daughter squeezed out of the crowd.

Looking at her daughter's smiling face, her heavy mood improved a little.

"The wolf guard is fine, and my father is also unhindered, our tribe relies on the wolf to ride, fighting and retreating, and the damage is minimal. ”

The daughter said quickly.

Only then did her heart relax a little, and she hurriedly asked, "Our team in Barbarian Bull City has been defeated?"

"Defeated. ”

The daughter's good mood was also gone, and she said with some sadness: "The Grand Duke died in battle, and the Little Duke gathered the remnants of the army with the support of our tribe and is still resisting." ”

"Still fighting?"

Her heart rose again.

"I want to fight, but the little duke is not ready to fight head-on, he wants to use the marquis's style of play, just like we hunt. ”

The daughter said, but there was hope in her eyes.

She didn't say anything, her daughter had gone to school and had her own knowledge, she knew that she couldn't compare, and she couldn't understand what she said, as long as it was safe.

"What will this battle end up in?"

After all, she was still worried about the child's father, and couldn't help asking.

"Let's divide the winner, this time there is the help of the alliance army, the army of the king of people...... Very strong. ”

The daughter said hesitantly.

"Can't you stop fighting?"

She asked in a whisper.

She also asked the child's father, but the child's father was stubborn, but she was not allowed to ask this.

"Actually, it shouldn't be hit. ”

The daughter's voice was very small, so small that only she could hear: "But the Grand Duke has to fight, but the Little Duke is not the main battle faction, so there may be a turnaround." ”

Hearing that there was a turnaround, her face showed some relief.

Seeing her daughter so knowledgeable, she was also happy, completely forgetting the objection of the child's father when he wanted to exchange a sheep for his daughter's chance to go to school.

"Mother, we'd better hurry home. ”

The daughter said suddenly, causing her to look at her in confusion.

"There are several small tribes that have been directly wiped out, and their relatives who stay here may snatch cattle and sheep and run out of the city, so ......"

When she heard her daughter's words, her eyes widened, and she immediately picked up her son and walked home.

Her family lives in the south of the city, very close to the city gate, and if they are robbed, those people can easily drive the cattle and sheep away, and she still has to hurry.

When she returned home, she found that there were no fewer cattle and sheep, so she settled down, but at this time, her daughter had an idea again.

"Kill the sheep. ”

The daughter said to her: "No matter whether you win or lose, you have to live in the end, at that time, the duke will definitely unify the cattle and sheep again, and if there are more in our family, we will divide them, so it is better to kill them now." ”

She thought about it, and felt that it was right, and immediately began to kill sheep with her daughter.

The son also woke up at this time, excitedly helping, a family of three was killing sheep, and suddenly someone smashed the door open.

The person who smashed the door saw the bloody scene in the courtyard and saw her with a knife in her hand, and turned away.

"It's the one who robbed the cattle and sheep, Ye'er went to get a bow and arrows for your sister, and I continued to kill the sheep. ”

After she finished speaking, she continued to kill.

The sheep was killed at night, and the family of three ate the mutton, and at the suggestion of the daughter, the yard was not cleaned up, so the blood was left there.

The family of three, who had enough to eat at night, did not go into the house to sleep, but dealt with it outside all night.

On this night, there were wolf guards patrolling the city outside, because the area was occupied by the steppe wolf tribe, so they only protected this area.

But even so, one after another people came to the door to rob cattle and sheep, but she and her daughter were scared away with bows and arrows.

stayed up like this until the next day, and the whole city began to be cleaned, but last night many people had already robbed cattle and sheep out of the city.

Now there are not many soldiers in the city, and the city gate is almost unguarded, robbing cattle and sheep, and leaving on their own, no one can stop them at all.

As a last resort, the Duchess temporarily formed a women's regiment and began to patrol, which made the situation in Manniu City better.

"No, let's go out of town. ”

Still a little frightened in her heart, she asked her daughter.

"No, it's all chaotic in the city, and it's even more dangerous outside the city. ”

Under the opposition of her daughter, she also put out this thought.

Sure enough, a few days later, news of chaos outside the city came, and many people hid in the city, which made the security in the city begin to decline rapidly.

People begin to be vigilant with each other, usually with their hands on stone knives at their waists, or with bows and arrows.

The family of three simply stopped going out and only lived in the room.

After more than two months, no news came, and the city settled down.

When spring came, the cattle and sheep needed to graze, and the mother of the two children dared to go out of the city and start grazing.

Fortunately, there was a team formed by the Duchess Lady who emptied all the troublemakers in the vicinity, so that the grandmother could graze with confidence.

In this way, another month passed, and news came, but the hunting tactics of the little duke did not work, and the enemy did not entangle with them at all, but only came towards the Wild Bull City.

The little duke's intention was to let all the people in the city temporarily relocate, leave an empty city here, and then use his familiarity with the grassland to deal with the enemy.

"Why didn't the little duke sue for peace?"

On the way to migrate, she asked her Dolma.

Dolma shook her head, unclear.

In fact, Dolma also began to wonder if he had guessed wrong.

Her grandmother didn't blame her, she just took her and Ye'er to follow the team and set off carefully.

This team is composed of several tribes, the old and weak, the largest of which are the Wild Bull tribe and the steppe wolf tribe.

But within a few days, he encountered a battle.

It is said that there are not many enemies, but Dolma, her grandmother, and younger brother did not see the enemy at all, so they were swept by the retreating team in front of them and ran wildly.

The family of three was not separated, but the cattle were lost, and only three wizened sheep were left.

At the same time, they also left the large team of the steppe wolf tribe and were caught in the trap of other tribes.

"We can't follow them. ”

At night, Zhuoma said to her mother: "There are too many people in this team of jackal tribes, they don't have any good intentions, if they fall in love with our sheep ......"

Mother was also a little frightened by her, so she listened to Zhuoma, contacted some people from her own tribe, and fled from the jackal tribe that night.

After fleeing south for a day, a team of more than 100 people plus some cattle and sheep stopped at a small river.

As the organizer of this team, Amu's mother became the commander, but in fact, it was her daughter Zhuoma who was in charge.

They stayed here for a while, until the third day of their stay, when things changed again.